About 40 miles south of Raleigh on I-40, you come to the town of Dunn. That’s where a 41-year-old man was recently arrested on suspicions of sexual assault of a teenager.
According to officials, the man is expected to be extradited to Florida, where the alleged assaults took place over the past two years.
U.S. Marshal’s Service agents arrested the man this past weekend. Authorities from Monroe County, Florida, accuse the suspect of “repeatedly raping” the teen and “threatening her with a knife and gun on multiple occasions.”
He faces charges that include armed sexual battery, as well as possession of child pornography.
The media report we read of his arrest also described a similar, though unrelated, case of another man from the Key Largo area being taken into custody.
The second man is accused of going to a woman’s house after meeting her that day, and attempting to assault her. She reportedly fended him off, but apparently did not report the alleged attempt.
She claims that the next day, he returned to her house and choked her and threatened her with a knife.
The man was later arrested in West Virginia and charged with sexual battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and burglary.
He also faces extradition.
Both men face much more than extradition, of course: if convicted of serious felony charges, they could face years in prison. Both defendants should have criminal defense attorneys look carefully at the evidence and help them decide whether it’s appropriate to negotiate with prosecutors or fight the charges at trial.
Source: keysnet.com, “Key Largo man arrested in North Carolina for alleged Keys rapes; he’s 2nd man in a week arrested out of state for alleged Keys sex abuse,”Larry Kahn, Feb. 2, 2014